Teach me spanish
by Amora Risa
Summary: Gandra asks Fenton to teach her spanish


In the beginning, M'ma Cabrera was a bit suspicious and cautious whenever Gandra came in their place.

"M'ma, stopping acting like she's some kind of a criminal!" Fenton would plead her. "Can't you just smile and welcome her? I really want to make a good impression".

"Oh, pollito, I know she's not a criminal. I've searched her record. I'm only worried about you!" she said and pinched his cheeks. "Sabes, many girls can be mean".

"Gandra is not that kind of—Wait, what? You searched her record? Oh, M'ma, you are unbelievable!" he sighed.

However as the time went by, Fenton noticed that maybe his mother was now used to the idea of Gandra being around.

"Welcome home, pollito!" she said one time when he returned in time for dinner. "Where is your amiga?" she asked.

Fenton noticed that she had prepared a table for three, this time without him asking her to do so. Gandra was not even supposed to come tonight in the first place.

"She has work to do, I wasn't able to see her today" he replied.

"Oh, never mind" she said nonchalantly and returned the third plate back into the drawer. "More food for us".

M'ma Cabrera seemed not to be bothered by her absence, but Fenton was happy to see she had prepared a plate for her.

Dinner time was more quiet than usual.

"At least that chica of yours appreciated mis tamales!" she scoffed at the sight of her son's unfinished plate.

Over the course of the weeks, Fenton was under the impression that his mom now was beginning to like Gandra. At least, he was sure she didn't hate her.

"And that's Fenton when he was 15 months old! He didn't like the idea of wearing a diaper" M'ma showed Gandra the family album.

Gandra chuckled, much to Fenton's embarrassment.

"M'ma, please!" he complained, his face turning completely red.

"What is wrong, pollito? I'm just showing her some photos. Wasn't he a cute patito?" she turned to Gandra.

"Oh, he sure was! And he still has the same charm" she answered, holding back her laughter but being honest at the same time.

The time passed and Fenton believed that his M'ma seemed to actually approve of them being together.

One time, he was with Gandra outside of his house. She was leaving after dinner and they were exchanging their goodnights, along with a few kisses.

But a sudden sound interrupted them, and they turned to see M'ma standing at the open door, holding a camera.

"M'ma! What are you doing?" Fenton shouted.

"Oh, perdón, pollito! It is dark out there and I needed to turn the flash on" she said while checking if the photo was good. "Don't get distracted by me, carry on" she put the camera in front of her eyes again.

"M'ma, this is p-private! You can't just t-take a p-picture of us!" he stuttered.

"Silencio, mi amor. In a few years you are going to thank me for keeping these memories. Besides, I've bought a whole album for you two. We've got to start filling it".

Fenton wanted to bury his face under the ground, but Gandra didn't seem to mind. She only giggled and went to M'ma and asked to see if she looked good in the picture.

It was true that at first he was worried about how his mother would react to Gandra, but now it looked like the two of them were getting along just fine. And that was incredibly important to him.

Gandra had managed to drop by Gyro's lab at the bin. Fenton had invited her many times, but she either couldn't make it or she avoided Gyro because he'd be angry at her for electrocuting him. And who could blame him? But today Gyro had other business to attend to, so that left Fenton and Gandra alone in the lab. He was so proud to share his projects with her.

"And that is an automatic language translator me and Manny are working on" he pointed to a weird-looking pair of headsets. "The idea came when—"

"Teach me spanish" she interrupted him.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Teach me spanish" she repeated. "It sounds like a beautiful language, especially when you speak in it".

"I… um… Well, thank you! But why a so sudden interest?"

"Well, your mom speaks spanish and she drops a few words here and there and it would be nice to understand her. Besides, I really like it when you speak in Spanish and I was thinking that maybe you could start speaking to me too".

"I can give you the language translator if you want. Well, actually not, because it's property of Dr. Gearloose's lab, but I can make you a new one if you want!"

"I don't want a translator, I just want to learn a few things. We can practice together. Come on, it will be fun!"

"I… I'm not the best teacher" he blushed. "But I know a great tutor with a degree in adult education who can-"

"I want to learn from you, you dummy! Please?"

When she looked at him with those bright eyes, he just couldn't refuse her anything.

"I suppose it wouldn't be so bad. We should begin with verb conjugation. Learning right grammar from the beginning is the most essential—"

"That's boring!" she snorted. "I'm not going to remember grammar rules!"

"Yeah, right. So… what do you want to learn?"

"What does 'pollito' mean? Your mom seems to call you that all the time".

Fenton knew they would come to that. Why did M'ma always had to embarrass him?

"It means 'little chicken'" he admitted. "Please, don't make fun of me".

"You know I will" Gandra laughed. "Mi pollito" she added.

"Oh, that's why you wanted to learn spanish? To mock me?"

"It was a good reason, among others! But you know I will tease you in every language possible, so you might as well teach me spanish".

"I can fight villains and criminals, but there is no match for your stubbornness" Fenton laughed.

"How do you say 'You are cute when you laugh'?" Gandra asked charmed.

"Eres precioso cuando ríes".

"Eresioso cado ries" she tried to repeat.

"No, no!" he laughed. "That's totally not correct! Eres precioso cuando ríes" he said again slower.

"Eres pesioso cuadro ríes" she tried again.

"No, Gandra! That's… that's not right", tears of laughter almost began to flood his eyes.

"What? I said it! I said exactly what you said!" she insisted. "Eres prioso cando ries!"

"You have said three different things and every one of them was wrong! Listen closely and repeat after me" he leaned closer and looked deep into her eyes. "Eres". His mouth made big and clear moves.

"Eres" she repeated.

"Presioso".

"Preci... Precioso?" Gandra asked unsure.

"Yeah, that's right! Cuando".

"Cuando".

"Ríes".

"Ríes".

"Perfect! Now say it all together: Eres precioso cuando ríes".

"Eres precioso cuando ríes" she finally made it.

"Exactly!" he clapped his hands. "Turns out you are not completely beyond hope".

"Hey, chemistry was not the only subject I was good at" she protested and nudged him with her shoulder. "How was my accent?"

"Try to make your vowels sharper, don't drag them too long. And make your 'r' clearer. See, your tongue needs to flap against the front roof of your mouth" he opened his mouth widely and showed her the position of his tongue while making some 'r' sounds.

"Suit, that's just snarling!" she chuckled. "I'm not doing that!"

"No, it's easy! Just watch my tongue".

"I prefer to taste it, if you don't mind" she grabbed the collar of his white rob and pulled his beak into hers.

"Ay, Dios mío!" he murmured between a short pause to catch his breath, before he heard Gyro's enraged voice from the other side of the lab.

"Intern! You were supposed to be working, not bring girls over!"

It's needless to say that his anger only grew when he saw who that girl was.

"You" Gyro said menacingly narrowing his eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry, Dr. Gearloose! Gandra was here just to help me with—"

"Out of my lab! Both of you!" he shouted.

However, over time Fenton believed that Gyro began liking her, or at least not minding having her around, especially after she helped them with a nano-physics project. Of course he wasn't being nice to her, since he never was to anyone, but he certainly didn't want to shoot her with his laser blast.

"Hola, Suit. Como estás?" Gandra greeted Fenton at their next date.

"Muy bien, gracias" he answered surprised. "I don't believe I told you that".

"No, I googled it".

"So, you were serious with that spanish thing that got into you?"

"Sí, claro! Is my 'r' any better?"

"It's perfect" he beamed and stared at her for a few good seconds.

"I want to practice with your mom. Get her to like me even more. Can we go to your place tonight?"

"Yeah, she'd be thrilled to have us. She kept asking me to bring you over. I told her that we also needed some privacy, but you know her, she kept insisting either way".

Indeed, M'ma Cabrera was very happy to see Gandra at their door.

"At last!" she exclaimed and looked relieved. "I haven't seen you in ages! I was worried you and Fenton had broken up and he didn't want to admit it. Come in, come in!"

Fenton noticed that again his mom had prepared a table for three. That was what she did every day, 'just in case' she said.

"Oh, pollito, you should have told me you were coming! I would have brushed my hair" M'ma Cabrera said standing in front of the mirror.

"Don't worry, mrs Cabrera! Eres precioso" Gandra proudly showed off by using the few spanish she had learned.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Oh no!" Fenton stepped in. "Gandra only wanted to say 'eres preciosa'. I taught her some spanish. Though, I didn't clarify that 'precioso' is for men only. If you want to say it to a woman, it's 'preciosa'".

"Oh, I'm sorry, mrs Cabrera!" Gandra said. "I'll be sure to remember it next time".

M'ma Cabrera didn't seem to be listening to Gandra's apology. She stared straight ahead and, with a look that showed she was deeply touched, she said:

"My future daughter-in-law is learning spanish! Que suerte! Ay, pollito, you really found the one!"

Her enthusiasm was obvious, especially when she hugged Gandra so tight she couldn't even breathe.

"M'ma, let her go!" Fenton protested, but his mother didn't seem to notice him.

She then cupped Gandra's cheeks and began saying rapidly:

"Bienvenida a nuestra familia, mi nena! Soy tan orgullosa por ti! Nunca en mi vida creía que Fenton pudiera encontrar a una chica como tú!"

"Whoa! I only know like two words!" Gandra interrupted her. "I can't get any of that, I'm sorry".

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's only that I got super excited and that's the best day of my life!" she exclaimed in happiness. "No te preocupes, in a while you will be an expert! In the meantime, pollito" she turned to her son, "you must talk to her in spanish, vale?"

"Sí, mama" he agreed, only because Gandra had asked him to teach her. And considering how their last lesson ended, it sure was going to be a nice experience.

"Gandra, you should come here whenever you can and we can watch telenovelas together!" M'ma suggested.

"Tele-what?"

"She's talking about soap operas" Fenton explained. "You don't have to do this, Gandra. Everyone hates soap operas, they are unbearable to watch".

"Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera!" his mother's tone got serious. "How dare you disrespect telenovelas? They are the peak of duck existence!"

"Mom, I'm sure Gandra has other things to –"

"No, I don't mind! Actually, it would be a great practice".

"Perfect! Be here tomorrow at eight. I'll make popcorn".

"You don't know what you are getting yourself into" Fenton whispered into Gandra's ear.

Since Gandra didn't have her motorbike this time, Fenton offered to walk her home after they finished dinner, much to his mother disappointment after her persistent requests that she stayed at their house for the night, even though they didn't have any beds to spare and the couch was exceedingly uncomfortable to sleep.

"You can sleep in Fenton's bed" M'ma suggested.

"M'ma!" Fenton shouted with a face red as blood and a trembling voice, while Gandra choked on her water and coughed.

"And of course you, pollito, are going to sleep in the couch" she added to avoid further misunderstandings.

"Thank you very much for the offer, I know your house is always open for me, but Fenton is really tired from work and he should sleep comfortably in his bed" Gandra said.

"Who cares about Fenton? I'm going to bring you clean sheets" M'ma got up from her chair.

"No, please, don't trouble yourself because of me. My house is just a short walk from here, and the weather is nice".

"There's also a full moon tonight!" M'ma sighed with dreamy eyes. "Pollito, walk her home".

Fenton was still covering his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"There's no need, I'll be fine on my own" Gandra tried to reassure them.

"Are you kidding? A girl alone in this time of the night?" M'ma tried to reason with her.

"Gandra, just let me come with you, please" Fenton begged her.

Of course she couldn't refuse him anything, and she really wanted to spend some time alone with him.

The stars shone clear and bright. The moon was full. It was the perfect setting.

"Gracias, pollito" she teased him.

"Oh, great! Now I am stuck with that nickname!" Fenton said. "I preferred when you called me 'suit'".

"You'll always be my suit, don't worry" she smirked.

"How about just 'Fenton'?"

"There's no way you are getting away without a nickname!"

"Why? I don't have a nickname for you".

"Find one. I'd be happy to hear it. Oh, find something in spanish!"

"Okay. I'll call you 'hermosa'".

"What does that mean?"

"Google it".

"Fine" she took her mobile phone out of her pocket.

"Not now! When you get home".

"Why? Someone's shy? I hope it's not an insult. Hey, will you teach me how to swear in spanish?"

"Absolutely not" he smiled.

"Will you sing to me in spanish?"

"I don't have a nice voice, trust me" Fenton said.

"I don't believe you. I've heard you humming in the lab. You could star in a musical!"

"No, that's just absurd!"

They reached her house shortly.

"Buenas noches, hermosa" he held her hands.

"I think that means 'goodnight', right?"

"Sí".

"Buenas noches" she repeated. "Oh, I almost forgot!" she took a small piece of paper out of her pocket. "I also googled something else in spanish I wanted to tell you".

"Qué?"

She brought in front of her eyes and read:

"Te coo-i-e-ro".

"What?" he asked confused.

"Te coo-i-e-ro" she repeated louder.

"Gandra, that's not a word" he chuckled.

"Yeah, it is! I found it online!" she protested, almost mad at him.

"Maybe you misread it".

"No, you told me that in spanish you pronounce every letter that you see and that's exactly what I did! Here, see for yourself!" she showed him the paper on which she had written it.

Fenton blushed at the sight and stuttered.

"Oh! I… Yes… Now I understand what y-you said. It's actually pronounced 'te quiero'. You see, when after 'Q' follows a 'U'—"

"Save the grammar rules for later, suit. Te quiero" she whispered in his ear, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Y yo te quiero a ti, hermosa" he held her tight.

Learning spanish was an amazing experience for Gandra. Especially when she found out what 'hermosa' meant.

Now she realized that perhaps Fenton deserved another nickname, besides 'pollito' and 'suit'. Something more intimate.

She searched for spanish words that could fit him, but she couldn't decide which one to use. So she memorized all of them. And still they weren't enough to describe what she felt.


End file.
